The Holiday Express festival is rolling right along at Blackberry Farm in Aurora, an event that is a holiday staple for many families in the Fox Valley.
Roger Braun from Geneva and his family were among the first to enter the farm Friday night for the fest. He said it was their second time visiting after bringing their daughter Daisy, 2, a year ago and seeing that “she loved it.”
“This is a just a little family event and trying to make a tradition for the holiday,” Braun said.
The Fox Valley Park District’s holiday season event is running from 5 to 8 p.m. on Fridays and 2 to 7 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays through Dec. 22. Admission is $10 for those 1 year old and older and includes all holiday attractions including the replica steam engine’s three-quarter-mile loop around Lake Gregory.
The fest opened Dec. 7 and Becky Harling, facility manager at Blackberry Farm, said “the attendance here the first weekend was great. The weather was definitely on our side.”
She said the event “had over 1,000 people each day” during its opening weekend.
Harling said as this point, attendance “is on line, on pace with other years.”
“The big attraction so far, besides the train, is Santa as well as the decorations in our carriage museum too,” she said.
Rita Braun said on Friday there were plans to visit Santa as well as hop on the Holiday Express train and that she remembers being introduced to trains as a child thanks to her father.
“My dad had those toy train sets that were laid out over our whole basement,” she recalled. “I’m from the suburbs so you go on the trains a lot and to the train shows.”
Daisy Braun, 2, said she was ready to see Santa and already had her Christmas wish ready.
“I want a horse,” she said without hesitation.
Kimberly McMullen of Hinckley said she and her son Liam, 2, “had been here before and the baby loves it.”
“We’re also going to see Santa,” she said.
Nicole Adams, also from Hinckley, said she also has visited the festival at the farm before and enjoys “the lights, Santa is always a good time, and the train.”
“We’re looking to see what’s new here,” she said as she entered.
Tricia Fitch of Aurora said she has come to the farm over a dozen times with her family including “at least five times riding the train.”
“It never gets old,” she said. “We keep coming back because (Blackberry Farm) is a very cute, tucked away, fun, family-friendly, laid-back, easygoing kind of a place,” she said. “We’re going to see Santa and also visit the concession stand for the cocoa.”
Fitch was joined by her young son Layne, 2, as well as older son Leighton, who said he remembers riding trains as a kid “when I was maybe 8 or 9 years old.”
Annette Heisig of Montgomery was inside the Santa house with her three children – ages 4, 3 and 1 – on Friday and said she and her husband Andrew have come to the holiday festival at Blackberry Farm “every year since we’ve had kids. It’s been four years now.”
“If it’s Christmas, we’re coming,” she said. “We’re also going to ride the train. The kids love it too. When we picked the kids up from day care today, they were screaming when we said we were going to see Santa. Their favorite thing is Santa and then the farm here decorates the whole play area with Christmas lights and they loved playing there.”
David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
